Home is Where the Soul Is
by kittyluv2000
Summary: Allen Walker keeps plenty of secrets from his 'family' at the Black Order. But when his biggest secret is revealed, how will everyone take this new Allen? Will Allen's comrades stay by his side, or will this finally be too much for them to handle? Adopted from WhiteWhisperingWind!
1. Transformation

**I'm not dead! I've just been busy with lots of stuff! Drawing, writing stories, all that jazz! (Sadly, I cannot get the motivation or ideas to continue Biohazard Z. I** _ **have,**_ **however, started some other stories, and here's one of them! This is a story idea I adopted from WhiteWhisperingWind, and I'm super excited for it! I hope all of you enjoy it too, and I might post the other stories too today! XD**

' **Gaster signing'**

 _Thoughts_

' _Writing'_

"Speech"

 _ **Onomatopoeia (sound effects)**_

 **::Text (in a text box)::**

 **Chapter 1: Transformation**

The room is silent. There is the soft sound of rhythmic breathing, emanating from one of the people laying in the beds. He has blonde hair, still in a braid even though he's asleep, and two dots on his forehead. This is why his widely accepted nickname is 'Two-Spot'. The other bed in the room is occupied by a teen with stark white hair. His eyes are open, staring at the ceiling. _Something is wrong._ The phrase is running through his thoughts, over and over. He can feel something off, something not quite in its right place, but he can't place a finger on it. He rubs his aching left eye, wondering if perhaps his scar is the thing messing with him. He sits up to look in the mirror across the room from his bed, hoping to see just him, not Neah behind him or a strangely-behaving left eye. But he's disappointed on both accounts. Neah is indeed there, staring at him impassively. And his eyes, both of them, are slightly discoloured. Not golden, which he would blame on Neah, but red in one eye, and blue in the other. A few choice words pop up in his head as he thinks of what would happen should anyone notice the discolouration. They would think Neah was taking over, even though they should know by now that Neah would turn his eyes golden. They would panic. And although there don't seem to be any other changes to his appearance, the fact that his eyes are changing at all worries him. _All I have ever done is help them. I don't see why they mistrust me so much._ He sighs, closing his eyes and starting to lay back down. He sits bolt-upright, eyes wide, when he realizes that no sound at all has escaped his mouth. Link wakes up just then, just at the wrong moment.

"Walker, what's wrong?" he asks, concerned that the fourteenth is attempting to take control. Allen turns to Link and signs,

' **Hello, Link.'** , his hand flicking easily into the different sign language letters. Link's eyes widen in surprise, and then narrow in suspicion.

"Since when do you know sign language, Walker? And why are you using it now?" Allen frowns, annoyed that he hadn't thought of this consequence before. Now Link is suspicious. Link is fully awake now, and getting more annoyed. "Walker. Answer me. Now!" Allen tries to tell him that he can't talk, but nothing comes out and Link snaps at him to speak up. Allen screams at him silently, a tear trailing down his cheek. Link finally gets the point, looking shocked and a little guilty. "You…can't speak." Allen nods and turns to look out the window, trying to calm down. Some amount of time passes before Link asks, "Walker. Are you hungry? You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Allen shakes his head, still not looking at Link. He's not hungry. In fact, he's queasy thinking if all the things that could go wrong from this point onwards. If he reverts to his old form, things could get disastrous. He knows how humans react faced with _his kind._ They get scared, irrational. They would attack him, and he would be forced to retaliate just so he wouldn't die. Tears, red and electric blue, roll down his cheeks as he remembers all that he had to give up last time the humans attacked his kind. _Monster_ kind. Link says his name, sounding confused and frightened as he sees the color of Allen's tears. Allen promptly curls into a ball, ducking his head and pulling his knees tight to his chest. Link sighs and shakes his head, walking from the room with a purposeful step.

He comes back a few minutes later with Kanda of all people. Kanda growls protests, pissed.

"Why the fuck are you dragging me _here?"_ He snaps. Link just walks over to Allen and forces the boy to look at Kanda. Kanda's eyes widen, anger disappearing from his face to be replaced with a sort of bemused smirk. "What's wrong, _moyashi?"_ he asks, trying to get Allen annoyed. Truthfully, the sight of Allen crying, and such strange tears too, it disturbs Kanda. Allen doesn't respond, eyes distant as he recites the entire periodic table to himself in his head. Kanda growls the nickname again, annoyed now. "Answer me, moyashi!" After more silence from Allen, Kanda starts to draw Mugen. Allen flinches at the sound, looking at Kanda out of the corner of his eye. The iris is now half silver, half bright blue by now, quite visibly _not right._ Kanda's eyes widen in shock, and he stares at Allen's differently colored eyes in something like horror. "What the _fuck,_ moyashi?!" Allen looks away out the window again. Kanda forces the white-haired teen to look at him, and he can actually _see_ the silver melting away, being replaced with red or blue. The colored tears still stream down Allen's cheeks, and after a moment of the two just staring at each other, Allen launches himself into Kanda's arms, still sobbing, eyes almost entirely changed in color. It's strange, but Allen has begun to think of Kanda as a sort of mean older brother. Kanda awkwardly pats Allen's back, hugging the smaller boy. Their little _moment_ is interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. Road appears on top of Lero, the golem yelling at her indignantly. She heads straight at Allen, yelling,  
"Allen's _mine!"_ Kanda growls and pushes Allen behind him, unsheathing Mugen and preparing to fight off the Noah. Road cackles, mocking Kanda. "Nope!" she trills, firing a multitude of candles at the exorcist. Link starts preparing seals as well, but before he or Kanda can do a thing, Allen leaps in front of Kanda. A candle hits Allen, and everyone in the room save Allen recoils or flinches at the sound it makes. A sharp _**crack!**_ resonates through the room. The sound of bone breaking. Immediately, the air grows heavy, weighing on everyone and making it difficult to move and breathe. Allen's shoulders shake, like he's laughing, and an inhuman grin spreads across his face. Seven skeletal hands appear floating in the air around Allen, each with a different colored orb in a hole in the center.

' **You broke the seal,'** he signs, and his skin and muscle disappears, looking as if it disintegrates from the bone. His scar disappears along with the flesh, being replaced with a black crack from the bottom of his left eye socket to his mouth. Another crack appears above his right eye socket, ending at the top of his forehead. A flash of purple light and a powerful gust of wind forces everyone to squint their eyes shut, and when they reopen their eyes they are met with rubble and dust. But that isn't what holds their attention. No, what their gazes lock onto is the figure standing where Allen had been monents earlier. They are tall, over six feet, and there is no flesh anywhere on them. No eyes, skin or muscle. Just a skeleton with one glowing red eye and one glowing blue. The hands look like the ones floating around it, with holes in the palms. They have no orbs within them, though. The person, presumably male, is wearing all black except for a long white lab coat. Black pants, a dark grey turtleneck, and black dress shoes. He stands straight, emphasizing his height and making him seem intimidating. The lab coat gives him an aura of intelligence, His crookes, black grin grows wider as he signs, ' **I grow tired of this game of cat and mouse.'** A ram's skull, the size of a large dog, materializes next to him as he holds out a hand to point at the bewildered and frightened Road. Her apprehension disappears and she laughs at it.

"How are you going to attack me with that silly prop? Besides, it's not like anything stupid as that could kill me." The skeleton chuckles silently, a dark and menacing look on its face.

' **Oh, really?'** The ram's skull opens its jaws, and a ball of brightly glowing energy forms in its maw. He slashes downwards with the hand he had raised, and the energy is released as a focused beam of light. It hits Road and she screams as she is disintegrated by the pure energy. The skeleton sways, the hands and skull floating around him disappearing. _I fucked up… now they know my true form, and all because of one stupid little candle. Ugh…I overdid it. Too much power after so long with no practice…_ His thoughts and vision grow hazy and his eyes stop glowing. They close fully, and he collapses to the ground, spent and already asleep. Link cautiously approaches the prone figure, and when it makes no move, he gingerly rolls it over. The skeleton is breathing, strangely enough, and although the bones have no visible connection to each other, they aren't separating. And the eyes…although they are nothing but sockets, they have closed to look like eyelids. Lenalee bursts into the room just after Link stands up, looking worried.

"Is anyone hurt? I can get Head Nurse-" She stops, staring at the skeleton with clothes laying on the floor. "What the-? Where is Allen-kun? This is his room…!" she asks, voice rising as her panic grows. It clicks for Link and Kanda, just then, that this skeleton _is Allen._ The skeleton that had been Allen wakes up just before the end of Lenalee's sentence. His body is heavy with fatigue, and he opens his eyes for just a second before Lenalee's loud voice makes him cringe and shut them again. The noise feels like a sledgehammer on his skull. Link sees his eyes before they close, and notes that they no longer have colored dots in them. Now there are just white dots, showing where he is looking. 'Allen' almost collapses again at the pounding headache he has, but Kanda catches him in time. He doesn't know if a hard hit on the floor would crack this seemingly magical skeleton's head.

"...Allen…?" Kanda asks hesitantly, unsure if his theory is right. In his arms, 'Allen' nods, wincing at the pain. Immediately, all the people in the room have different reactions to this news, but they all wonder how this could be possible aloud. Link looks mildly surprised, hiding his emotions well. Lenalee takes a step back and gasps, looking horrified. And Kanda…actually looks like this doesn't faze him at all. He just looks generally confused and worried. 'Allen' sits up, and Lenalee faints. His headache fading, 'Allen' chuckles again.

' **Guess I couldn't hide my real form forever, hm?'** Link gets serious, almost glaring at 'Allen' with the intensity of his gaze. Allen frowns, feeling highly uncomfortable. ' **I will begin…with my real name. It is not Allen Walker.'** 'Allen' signs that he would like some paper, because signing his name would surely confuse someone. He writes his name on what is brought, revealing that his true name is W. D. Gaster. Link nods.  
"We will call you that now, then." Gaster nods.

' **Just call me Gaster,'** he signs, much slower than he usually would for the sake of these rather slow humans. Gaster grabs the paper and pen again and writes again in his neat cursive.

' _Please remember now, that the Fourteenth can no longer take over my body. I have no flesh, and no genes for him to inhabit. Nothing but fabric and bones.'_ He pulls up a sleeve to demonstrate, revealing white bone, no tissue there. Link leans forwards to inspect further, and Kanda asks the burning question. "How?" Gaster shrugs. ' **I have always been this way, not counting my time as a human. I truly do not know.'** He stops there, not wanting to get too close to the subject he desperately wants to avoid. Monsters and magic are not usually accepted very readily by humans. Thankfully, neither Link or Kanda seem to suspect that he's excluding anything. Gaster stands up, albeit a bit shakily, and holds a hand out towards Lenalee. Kanda and Link start, recognizing a gesture close to that which summoned the ram's skull before. Instead though, a blue glow surrounds Lenalee and she slowly lifts off the ground. As Gaster starts to walk away, Link grabs his arm (shivering at the strange feeling of grabbing nothing but bones).

"What are you doing? Where are you going?" Gaster turns back, looking unimpressed and annoyed.

' **Taking her to the infirmary. And checking on the others.'** With that, he walks from the room, hands in his lab coat pockets. People stare and whisper as they pass, shocked and scared. Gaster walks quickly without meaning to, his long legs carrying him faster than the others. Therefore, he arrives at the infirmary quickly. Once there, he gently sets Lenalee down on one of the beds. Behind him, someone groans, and Gaster turns to see Lavi, stirring in a nearby bed. He signs, ' **Hello, Lavi.'** Lavi starts, eyes going wide. Then, he freaks out.

"GAH! _The grim reaper is here! And he knows my name!"_ he shrieks, scrambling to get away from Gaster (getting tangled in the sheets and falling out of bed as he does so). Gaster chuckles, smile turning into a huge grin.

' **Allen,'** he signs to Lavi. Lavi stares in silence, and then freaks out again.

" _He's after Allen!_ What happened to Allen?! Where is he?!" Gaster rolls his eyes, sighing noiselessly and gesturing to himself while signing  
' **Allen.'** again. Kanda growls in annoyance at the redhead, stepping towards him and snarling,

"What the moyashi is trying to _say,_ you _baka usagi,_ is that he _is_ Allen." Gaster frowns at the nickname.

' **I am not short. That nickname does not apply.'** Kanda snorts dismissively and mutters the nickname again. Just then, Lavi gets past his shock and exclaims,

"No way! That's not Allen! Allen's not a creepy old skeleton, plus he's way shorter than that!" Gaster twitches. He glares at Lavi and lifts his left hand, which has a green cross floating in the center of the hole. Crown Clown activates, the familiar white cloak appearing along with the (slightly modified) claw hand and cartoonish hand.

' **I. Am not. Short. I never was.'** The white dots serving as pupils have disappeared in his anger, and the black slit of a mouth is twisted into a frown. He sighs, closing his eyes for a bit. Crown Clown deactivates, and afterwards when Gaster reopens his eyes, the white dots are back. Gaster stares levelly at Lavi, looking highly unimpressed. ' **Is that enough evidence? Or must I convince you further that I am, or was, Allen Walker?'** Lavi gulps, nodding.

"Y-Yup! It's all good! Hey, why'd ya say 'was'?" Gaster smiles a small smile.

' **My true name is Gaster.'** Lavi nods slowly, processing all this new information and no doubt storing it away somewhere in his mind. Link touches his arm gingerly.

"Walker, you need to come with me to talk to Komui and Leverrier." The white pupils in Gaster's eyes disappear again, and a floating hand appears. It grabs the back of Link's collar, lifting him off the ground.

' **What did I say to call me?'** Gaster signs, anger speeding up his sign language. It takes Link a few seconds to process the very fast letters, but once he does, he hurriedly corrects his mistake. Gaster is very scary when he's angry. Gaster sighs and lets his magic hand dissipate. He closes his eyes and rubs his temples. All this is giving him another headache. He walks to an unoccupied corner of the infirmary and summons a magic pen. Drawing a grid on the air before him, he proceeds to fill in all the squares and create the periodic table. But he adds in an extra element, the letters beneath blurred but legible. Link peers at the table.

"Love?!" he asks incredulously, scoffing at the idea. Gaster writes more next to it, elaborating. ' _Love: Level Of ViolencE. A way of measuring one's capacity to hurt others. ~Sans'_ Gaster starts up on quite the lecture, hands moving almost too quickly for even Lavi to understand. He translates for those who don't know, and everyone is fascinated with the information Gaster tells them. But Gaster, although rather enjoying teaching these humans, is sad. He has no possible way to return to the Underground without losing this physical form, and he would dearly love to go back to his home. But for now he shall content himself with ridding this world of the abominations called akuma, and the Love-filled Noah clan.

 **Alriiiight! Woot woot! I might post more today, maybe not. Depends on my motivation to do anything...I'm laaazyyy! XD Welp, I hope you liked this! Have a great day, all of you! And thanks again to WhiteWhisperingWind for letting me adopt this story! I hope I do it justice!**


	2. Justice

***Frantically trying to keep u with all the stuff I wanna post* Ohmygod I'm being PRODUCTIVE for once! I've posted new drawings on Instagram ( anime_fangirl2000 if ya wanna check it out. XD) (I actually FINISHED more drawings, another miracle), I've written more of all my stories (just not done full chapters yet, please be patient. I'm trying), and now I'm freaking POSTING?! Wow! Yay for summer vacation...and way too much time on my hands. Oh and I should be writing more Biohazard Z now that I've made it accessible on my phone. I don't get on the computer often, so if it's on my phone, surely I'll pay more attention to it. *fist pump* Alright, let's do this.**

 **Queenlyn K: Well, I'm glad you're liking it! That makes me very happy! XD Oh? Please do tell if there's stuff I could fix! I'll do my best to fix them! (: Haha, I am finally delivering more! I hope it's still enjoyable!**

 **jy24: Haha, thank you for 'biting'. I swear this story will be more than just one 'hook' of a chapter sooner or later! Ahaha, I'll get to that story super soon, I swear! Oh dear, you don't really believe it's** ** _ending?_** **So soon? Pfft, nope.** ** _My_** **stories** ** _never_** **end. I get too many ideas. (Or maybe they never end cuz I never write them... (-_-;) I'm sorry.) I'm glad it seems interesting! I try to not be a boring writer.**

 **Carys (Guest): I'm glad you're liking it! Eheheh, you're meeean! XD I'm not lazy! I'm just...expending all my energy points on other things...like Supernatural and...uh...? I'm glad you like my stories! I pride myself in always finding more plot bunnies to expand on and write until I have 100+ stories to keep track of. XD**

 **Chapter 2: Justice**

Gaster sits on his bed, humming a familiar tune to himself. He had thought the humans of the Black Order would get frightened of him and attack, both verbally and physically, but they took his transformation quite well. There are, of course, a few exceptions, but overall these humans are so used to surprises and plot twists, they'll accept different scenarios quite readily. Gaster is writing with his magic pen on a paper clipped to a clipboard which is floating in midair in front of him. He's nervous and wound up, and his writing is messier for it. Leverrier is supposed to be coming to visit today, and Gaster definitely has a grudge against the man. He is horrible, cruel and ruthless, and Gaster wants nothing more than to rid this world of that scum. _**Bang!**_ His bedroom door slams open, and there is the very person he wants to kill. _Speak of the devil,_ Gaster thinks with mild, annoyed amusement. Why couldn't they let him have his moment of peace to calm down? Leverrier immediately starts yelling at him, obscenities and accusations spilling from his mouth and further aggravating Gaster's less-than-friendly feelings towards the Hitler wannabe. Gaster looks at him levelly, mouth pursed into a frown. More accusations. More angry, hurtful words. All he has ever done for the Black Order, for this man, is help. Yet here this ungrateful bastard is, insulting him and showing quite plainly that he doesn't trust or have any respect for any of his subordinates. These people, the exorcists giving their lives are nothing more than simple pawns. An idea occurs to Gaster, and the frown turns into a menacing grin. Oh, they will hate him for this, they will prosecute him, but it will be so satisfying, and he will have so much new information to study. Surely it will be worth it. Gaster turns and sets his feet on the floor, black dress shoes clicking loudly. The sound is almost simultaneous with Leverrier shutting up. He looks suspicious, backing away as Gaster approaches him. The white lab coat Gaster is wearing drifts behind him, somehow making him look even more frightening than he already would. Once Gaster has backed Leverrier into a larger space, the hallway connected to his room, he stops. Leverrier stares at him incredulously, scared and angry.

"What are you doing, Walker?" he snaps. Gaster glowers.

' **I am Gaster. No longer Allen Walker.'** he signs, taking another step forwards. People are staring, looking confused. Then, color starts to leak from the surroundings. Everything turns grayscale, including people, save the bright red and blue glow of Gaster's eyes. A black box appears above Gaster, and within it words spell out.

 **::It is time to judge your Soul, Inspector Leverrier.::** The letters flicker in and out, being replaced by strange symbols for milliseconds. Although the flickering is ongoing, the text is still readable. Gaster's smile grows, becoming a terrifying grin, a black maw, and the glowing eyes are flames, showing off the skeleton's power. A heart shape appears in front of Leverrier's chest, and one in front of Gaster's. While Gaster's is purple, Leverrier's is black. Gaster chuckles darkly, pointing to the heart shape. **::That is your Soul. It is black, corrupted and filled with Love. It has no key Traits, only greed and hatred.::** A ram's skull, just like the one earlier which had destroyed Road, appears by Gaster, who teleports onto it. His right eyes shifts from red to orange, and blue and orange bones appear on either side of the two in the hallway, blocking Leverrier from running away. **::No key Traits. No Patience, no Bravery, no Integrity, no Perseverance or Kindness. No Sense of Justice, and no Determination** _ **.**_ **::** Many of the people watching this have caught on that the black box is Gaster talking, and not just random text. Gasps and murmurs echo through the hall at the next words in the box. **::You have sinned worse than Chara herself…and she is a literal demon.::** Some of the mutterings are about Gaster - he knows a _demon_ by _name?_ But most of them are about Leverrier. They all knew he was cruel, but never suspected he could be worse even than a demon. Gaster continues talking, his words appearing in the black box.

 **::Chara was human once, but she committed such terrible deeds she became a demon.::** A blue glow surrounds Leverrier and his black Soul, lifting him off the ground.

 **::But she did those deeds in an attempt to free my people. You have done your crimes for no true cause. Therefore, you are worse.::** This text glitches even more than before, and as he speaks, more black boxes and more text appear. They appear next to both men, and statistics fill in.

 _Gaster:_

 _LV. - 40_

 _HP - 36000/36000_

 _ATK. - ?_

 _DEF. -?_

 _Leverrier:_

 _LV. - 300_

 _HP - 2000/2000_

 _ATK. - 400_

 _DEF. - 20_

Gaster's demeanour turns positively frigid upon seeing those numbers. **::Even a powerful demon such as Chara does not have a Level of Violence as high as yours.::** More murmuring as people watching talk about this new revelation: Leverrier has surpassed a demon in his Level of Violence?! Two of Gaster's magic hands appear next to him, one with a green orb in the center, and one with a purple orb. Gaster makes no move to attack, instead stating: **::I will allow you to attack first. This will further my judgement. Choose wisely.::** With these words, another box appears below Leverrier's name, containing four options: _Fight - Act - Item - Mercy_

Leverrier panics, and jabs a hand at the _Fight_ option. A kitchen knife appears in his hand. He stares at it, eyes bulging with horror and disbelief. Gaster's eyes narrow and he frowns.

 **::Bad choice,::** he says, anger clear on his face. Four more magic hands appear, each with a different colour orb in the center. Green, purple, red, dark blue, yellow, orange and light blue orbs in seven different hands float around Gaster in an impressive display. Leverrier seems unclear on what he should fo with the knife he is holding, amd Gaster shrugs. **::Since you will not attack me although you have chosen to fight, your turn is over. My turn.::** Strings of light uncoil from the light blue orb, wrapping around Leverrier. Gaster twitches a hand and the strings jerk sideways, slamming Leverrier into a wall. The strings dissipate, and Gaster stands still again. He stares levelly at Leverrier, who picks himself up slowly. In his stats, his HP has changed. It now states: _HP: 1500/2000_. Gaster watches as Leverrier wipes blood from the corner of his mouth. The man squares off, glaring at Gaster. There is fear in his eyes, too, though, and it ruins the glare. In the box next to him, the four options appear again.

 _Fight - Act - Item - Mercy_

Leverrier presses the _Fight_ option again and attacks without much enthusiasm, not even getting close to hitting Gaster with his knife as the skeleton sidesteps easily. Gaster snakes his head. **::You have no Determination. Even Chara had Determination. She became a demon for a reason. You, however, are cruel for none at all.::** A dark blue glow surrounds Leverrier, and he is slammed into another wall. He gets up slowly again, coughing up a bit of blood. His HP has gone down to 1000/2000. Gaster looks down on him, expression terrifying. **::You. Are nothing but a sick. Bastard!::** Everyone knows that allen, and therefore Gaster, doesn't swear unless he is very passionate about what he's talking about. Gasps and more mutterings. People are becoming uneasy about this battle, but no one moves to help Leverrier. No one is really on his side. Leverrier tries to press the _Mercy_ option, but Gaster laughs at him. **::When have you ever had mercy in your heart? When you sent all those exorcists to their deaths? When you terrified and hurt them? How about with Lenalee? You hurt her, terrified her, gave her no choice but to risk her life. There was no mercy there.::** The orange hand by Gaster's head clenches into a first, and small orange orbs of light appear around Leverrier. The orange orb in the hand flickers, and the orbs explode, tossing Leverrier around like a ragdoll. The numbers in Leverrier's stays flicker.

 _HP: 500/2000_

Leverrier drags himself to his feet, gasping and coughing. Gaster is unforgiving and cold. **::Any last words, demon?::** Leverrier glances around, eyes wide.

"Crow! Get him!" he commands, and Crow appear out of the crowd and the shadows. They start towards Gaster, who shakes his head in disappointment.

 **::What a poor choice of words.::** As the Crow attack with their seals, the purple hand send the same attacks back at them. Gaster ignores the Crow and instead slams Leverrier into another wall. His HP is cut by half, and Leverrier doesn't even try to get up. A ram's skull materializes, and Gaster pauses before firing it. **::Burn in Hell, you** _ **megalomaniac.**_ **::** The beam charges quickly and within seconds there is nothing left of Leverrier except a smoking scorch mark on the floor. In front of Gaster, a box appears.

 _You have gained 1500 exp.!_

Gaster shakes his head looking at it, and all if the floating hands disappear. The ram's skull Gaster had been standing on the whole time disappears and Gaster lands lightly on the ground. Color bleeds back into the surroundings as Gaster closes his eyes. When they reopen, the pupils are back to white dots. He looks around at the humans, most of whom are cowering away from him. Sighing, he walks wearily into his room, closing the door behind him gently and collapsing into bed. He distantly realizes that his feet are hanging over the side of the bed, but he doesn't care. _Why am I the world's punching bag? The failed experiments, the pain…the king and queen's anger and oppression…the loss of_ everything _I knew, my sons…and then this terrible, sad life as an exorcist…_ Gaster stares at the ceiling listlessly, and then his eyes slip closed in exhaustion. _I miss you…all of you,_ he mouths, crying softly. He falls asleep, tears still falling from his eyes.

.oOo.

Later, Link and some of the other exorcists check in on him and see what a wreck he looks. His lab coat and clothing is rumpled, the pillowcase stained with his colored tears. A clipboard, with one piece of paper still clipped to it, is laying on the floor by the end of his bed. Kanda is the only one brave enough to dare look at it. The drawing on it is still there, and although his drawing skill certainly hasn't improved with his transformation, the picture is pretty clear. Three skeletons, one definitely Gaster, standing in front of what looks to be a snow-covered inn. A short skeleton with a baggy blue sweater and sweatpants, and a tall one wearing a red scarf and some sort of armor. Kanda frowns.

"You've lost your family, haven't you, moyashi…" he mutters, glancing at the still form that lay asleep in the bed. He tells everyone else to get out, and he closes the door behind him. "You need to take better fucking care if yourself, moyashi." He places the clipboard on Allen's dresser next to the bed, and tugs the blanket off of Link's bed. He has no idea whatsoever if Gaster is able to get cold or not, but he throws the blanket overtop him anyways. Just in case. Before he leaves, he glances back and murmurs, "I know what it's like to lose family…and to be the odd one out. I know how you feel." He turns off the lights and shuts the door behind him. He doesn't look back. If he had, he would have seen a fresh blue tear streaking down the side of Gaster's head.

 **Aww, Kanda's being a big softy. Wait. Is that even Kanda?! It can't be! SOMEONE GO GET KOMUI! I'M SURE HE HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS! Anyhoo, I should be done with the next chapter for a few stories soon. I've had so much time and so much inspiration...yay! See ya guys later, feel free to tell me your thoughts and correct my mistakes whenever! I'm writing this on my phone, and my clumsy fingers misspell stuff a lot n my not-so-small screen. Oops. *shrugs* Welp, ciao for now! Please, check out my Instagram! I'd love some new followers, and I love sharing my art! ( anime_fangirl2000)**


	3. Past

**Woot woot! New chapter! I'm glad everyone is so interested in this story, I love it, too! Now, let's get right to the reviews!**

 **Nadejdaro (Guest): Thank you! I'm so glad you like it! Muahaha, the FEELS! My...second...greatest weapon! (My first is cliffhangers! XD) You are very welcome! Thank YOU for the review! (:**

 **Marnana (Guest): Haha, no problem! I'm just happy you left any review at all! I love seeing new reviews! :D Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it so much! XD**

 **WhiteWhisperingWind: What?! There's not THAT many spelling mistakes...I checked! *distressed fidgeting* Do you spell names differently than I do...? *gets tackle-hugged* Whoa! Haha, I'm super happy you like this story! I'm glad you think I'm doing a good job! I'm excited, too!**

 **jy24: Haha, yup! I think Central places too much faith in their Crow. ANY monster could destroy them, easy-peasy! Uh, yeah! I'm gonna have fun letting Gaster just destroy anyone in his way. XD Why thank you! I'm getting pumped for the plans I've made, too! Thank you so much for all your awesome reviews! Seeing all your questions and theories makes me overjoyed, it means you're really actually paying attention to and enjoying my stories! :)**

 **JJ45: Ha...ha... *nervous flop-sweat* The updates here may slow down now...I've barely started the next chapter...oops... But I'm super glad you're liking this story!**

Chapter 3: Past

Gaster wakes up a few hours later, and is shocked to find that not only are the lights off, but someone has laid a blanket over him and moved his drawing onto his bedside table. He cringes, hoping he doesn't get any interrogating on the picture, or…well, or anything. He just doesn't want to answer any questions. He will have to reveal what type of creature he really is at some point, but that doesn't mean he wants to. These friends he has are nice, he likes them, and he would rather they not become estranged to him. But it is not to be, for once Gaster had straightened himself out, when he goes to the library to read, he is joined by his exorcist friends. They, of course, start asking questions. Lenalee seems to be form between angry or happy with him, and scared of him about Leverrier. Lavi is curious about everything, and rather judging, while Kanda is quiet but still a part of the conversation somehow. He's just absorbing the information given out.

Gaster sighs and stares off at nothing in particular. Lenalee just asked him why he killed Leverrier. Looking back at her with a level gaze, Gaster answers as calmly as he can.

 **'He was despicable. It is still my duty to cleanse the world of…demons, whether they be an akuma or a human being.'** Lenalee nods, looking mildly disturbed at the answer. Lavi leans forwards and fires the next questions at the tired-looking Gaster.

"Why did you have a human body? Innocence? And how are you a moving skeleton? There's nothing there to keep you together or anything. And - what exactly are you?" Gaster flinches visibly but waves away Kanda's attempts to make Lavi leave the topic alone.

 **'I may as well get this over with. Either you will stay my friends or you will hate me.'** The three humans look shocked at the two options Gaster puts forth. Lenalee speaks up.

"We won't hate you, A-Gaster. We're your friends." Gaster gives her a look that shows he clearly doesn't believe her in the least.

 **'Perhaps. In any case, to answer Lavi's questions. I had a human body because I created one. A six foot tall moving skeleton would not fit in very well in the human world. I guess you could say magic keeps me together and moving. I do not truly know. But I am a monster - no, not like that. A monster as in the race of magical creatures which used to roam the surface along with humans. There are many different types of monster.'** Lavi looks surprised, and impressed, while Lenalee looks overwhelmed. Kanda keeps a stellar poker face. Lavi then frowns, asking,

"Why would we hate you for that? You're not mean, you're just…powerful. And kinda ruthless." Gaster sighs.

 **'Humans deciding that monsters were scary and threatening is why all of monsterkind is trapped below ground by the forgotten magic of humankind.'** He turns back to his book, glancing up when the next question comes.

"What do you mean, 'trapped underground'?" Kanda asks gruffly. Gaster wilts a little, placing the book on the arm of his chair. He signs his response without looking at Kanda.

 **'They were all banished to the Underground when the humans suddenly attacked, long ago. They've been there ever since, trying to escape. But that barrier is too strong.'** Gaster reaches for the book again, hand shaking. Then, he stands up and starts walking away. He leaves the book where it is. **'I am going to rest.'** Kanda has a feeling that the 'monster' won't be resting at all, but he doesn't follow, and stops Lenalee from doing so as well.

"Give him space. He'll tell us when he's ready." Lenalee nods, looking after him worriedly.

"I guess. I just hope he trusts us enough. I mean…Allen wasn't the best at confiding in anyone either." There is a long silence after these words, but then the three all get up to leave. They exit through the door Gaster had just left through, not at all suspecting that he has teleported back in to listen. Gaster closes his eyes, torn as to what he should do. I don't know if I deserve friends such as these…and now, I don't think I can bring myself to leave. But my sons… Gaster teleports to his room and sits in his bed. Humans are such strange, unpredictable creatures.

.oOo.

Gaster flips through yet another book, this one on mysterious places and mysterious disappearances, before tossing it aside onto the growing pile. Lavi joins him, watching his actions with interest before asking,

"Whatcha doing, Gaster?" Gaster sets down the next book and taps the cover.

 **'I am looking for possible places where the entrance to the Underground could be. Many humans have fallen down, so there would logically be a record of disappearances.'** Lavi nods looking between the rejects pile and the other one. The reject pile is twice as big.

"Not having much luck, huh?" Gaster shakes his head, rubbing his temples.

 **'It should not be much below sea leveI, or the entrance would flood quite a bit. Therefore many places have been taken off the list. Disappearances cannot have been solved and bodies or people found, so many more are not possible.'** Lavi hums, looking pensive.

"I can help you with this, it would be more interesting than the re-organizing and memorizing I was planning on doing. Here, pass me some of those books." Gaster complies, and the two sit in the library together for another five hours until Lavi has to go. But the stack of books that Gaster has approved, each containing one or more bookmarks, grows by quite a bit. Thanking Lavi for his help, Gaster picks up the large stack of books with ease and walks back to his room. Link's eyes pop when he sees Gaster arrive carrying a stack of books half as big as Link himself. "How-how are you-?" he stutters, amazed. Gaster shrugs, setting the books down heavily.

 **'I do not really feel anything. No nerves. Just…dull aches with sharp blows. Carrying heavy items does not affect me in the least.'** Link shakes his head in disbelief, not quite able to accept all the rapid changes happening lately. Then, he remembers that he had actually been looking for Gaster, and he turns back to him.

"Gaster, Komui wants to talk to you." Gaster nods and leaves, thanking Link on his way out.

At Komui's office, Gaster sits on the couch, fidgeting to find a comfy spot. But being this tall also means that normal-sized chairs and couches are far too small. His legs stretched out in front him, Gaster looks levelly at Komui and nods for him to begin. Komui finishes staring at Gaster and clears his throat.

"Can you still kill akuma like this?" Gaster nods, holding up his left hand and showing Komui the green cross floating in the center.

 **'I still have my Innocence. But I can also kill akuma with my magic.'** Komui nods, and Gaster concludes that Lenalee must have told him what she learned that time in the library. It looks like he took the information stellarly as well. Such changeable creatures…

In the end, Gaster receives a mission, one far away but supposedly Innocence-related. He is to go with Lavi and Kanda, and as soon as possible. They leave within the hour, none of them prone to packing much of dawdling. (In Gaster's case, he brings a couple changes of clothes, a notepad and pen, and that's it.)

The train ride is uneventful. Gaster and Lavi converse quietly about science and politics, Gaster surprising Lavi with his knowledge quite a few times. Kanda watches them for a little bit, face impassive, but then returns to staring listlessly out the window or at the floor. When Kanda does finally talk, all he does is annoy Gaster and interrupt the conversation he and Lavi had been enjoying. Gaster closes his eyes and recites the entirety of the Periodic Table in his head, including his extra element. Gaster can't help but smirk at Neah's reaction to that. Every time Gaster recites the table, or all of the scientific facts he knows in order to calm himself down, he gets the distinct feeling that Neah is perturbed. To the Noah, all that is is a poignant reminder that although he had lived for many, many years before dying and becoming trapped here, there is a being much older and wiser than him…or even the rest of the Noah clan. Gaster has even noticed that Neah no longer appears in the mirror. And if he does, the Noah isn't looking at him. He's not smiling either. Gaster stares out the window like Kanda, leaving Lavi to pout and get bored. By the time they finally arrive at the station they are to get off at in order to get on a boat, Lavi has fallen asleep. Kanda doesn't bother to wake him nicely, tugging on the redhead's scarf and dumping him onto the floor. Gaster chuckles noiselessly, amused at the humans' antics.

After another few days of travelling, the already weary exorcists arrive at their final destination. A good night's rest, and they are ready to take a trek up the mountain to where strange occurrences and sightings have happened recently.

"It looks like some sort of barrier, huh?" Lavi comments. "Probably an Innocence protecting itself." He turns to look at his comrades. Kanda is nodding slightly, poking the thing with his Mugen. Gaster is staring at the glowing barrier. It's an odd color, a sort of grey that tricks the eyes and makes one confused. Gaster, still staring at the barrier with a strange look on his face, answers Lavi's question.

 **'This is not Innocence. This barrier is magic, powerful magic. Human magic.'** Lavi's eye widens.

"You mean this is the barrier keeping monsters in?!" he gasps. Gaster nods.

 **'I have finally found my home.'**

.oOo.  


 **Oooooh, the tension is building! XD Thank you very much to everyone who left a review for, followed, or favorited (Is this a word?) my story! Seeing that little e-mail notification makes me soooo happy! ;D See ya next chapter! Au revoir!  
**


	4. IMPORTANT - NOT A CHAPTER

**Hello to everyone who is following this story, who has comnented and favourited it. I thank you** ** _very_** **much. And I'm sorry to do this, but I am no longer interested in this story and am ending it here.**

 **I am also quitting !** **If you wish to follow me on AO3, my active fanfiction account, I am under the same username. I find AO3 easier to use and easier on the eyes.**

 **Thanks again for all your support! I hope to see you on AO3. 3**


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